(Have you seen me? | Photo: MOTU Blog)
Welcome to 2018. The Eagles are Super Bowl champs, the Sixers are in the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs, Meek Mill is free. And even broke-ass Detroit has street sweeping.
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(Councilman David Oh | Image: Philadelphia City Council)
A new charter amendment from Councilman David Oh would be a major setback for the cause of fair property taxes in Philadelphia by giving City Council veto power over assessments for the first time—a move that would ensure Philly once again goes decades without updating our valuations.
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The Democratic field for the 5th Congressional District is very crowded, with ten candidates running to be the party's nominee in what is expected to be one of the easier Democratic pick-ups this year.
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(Photo: AL DIA)
City Council's new housing package hits a lot closer to the mark than other recent proposals, with a much better approach to revenues and bonuses that should actually yield some durable funding for creating more below-market-rate units.
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The Controller's office's report on the 10-year tax abatement has a lot of good insights into the economics of housing in Philadelphia in 2018, and raises some important questions about the different scenarios under discussion for reforming it.
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Last week, the Pennsylvania Department of State issued an order requiring that all counties in the Commonwealth transition to auditable voting machines in time for the 2020 Presidential election. The goal: Make sure there are paper backups of all votes cast in the most highly-scrutinized election in American history. The City Commissioners announced this week that they aren’t going to comply.
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(Multiple children were struck on the Parkway one day after Clarke's comments: Image credit: Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg on Twitter)
According to the Kenney administration's Vision Zero Action Plan, Philadelphia has the highest per capita traffic death rate among peer cities at 6 fatalities per 100,000 people. It's a big problem, and the administration is trying to do something about it through a comprehensive program of engineering, enforcement, and education aimed at halving the rate of serious pedestrian injuries and fatalities on Philly's public streets within 5 years.
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(Image: Rep. Daryl Metcalfe)
Thanks to a state Supreme Court decision, Pennsylvania has new Congressional maps for the 2018 election, but these new maps are only going to be in effect for a couple years. That's because the 2020 Census is right around the corner, and following that, the redistricting process is going to start all over again.
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